INSURANCE BASICS FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS, GRADUATES by David Balen

Students

Before coming on the course, students can ensure that if they can't get there due to Accident, Illness or certain situations beyond their control, e.g., illness death of a close relative the group scheme will pay up to the chosen sum insured less the policy excess for the loss of a non-recoverable deposit or the full fee which may be forfeit in the event of cancelling very close to the commencement date of the course.

The loss is calculated according to the terms of the course provider. At present UK residents are coverable, and we should shortly be able to provide cover for Irish residents, and hopefully extended to EEC residents in due course. 

Once they are on the course, they will be practicing on each other and doing case study work and practical activities towards gaining experience.

A common misunderstanding is that a schools policy covers the students in whatever situation.  In Insurance, one of the core principles is Insurable interest. The policyholder has insurable interest.  If the policyholder is not the student, but named as the college, the college is covered if they are sued for the activity of the students, but the students themselves have no defence if they are personally named and sued in a legal action.  This will not apply if the schools policy includes all of the students if personally sued, but most do not.

It is advisable that a Student Case Study cover in the name of the students themselves should therefore be taken out on the block scheme, if available for their full personal protection in the remote, yet possible scenario of a student being sued for their actions personally.  It is required that they have ongoing supervision of their work by phone, in situ or by meetings to comply with policy conditions.  They are allowed to charge minor expenses (but not usual full fee of a qualified practitioner) for this if the tutor says they are ready for this, but must make it clear to any persons treated that they are a student.  Appropriate recording of this should be made in the patient notes.

Upon qualification, the policy can then be simply be upgraded.

Teachers

Your Balens Scheme offers a very comprehensive package of protection and support systems for your therapeutic and teaching activities. There has been some confusion in the past about the cover afforded to those of you who teach or run schools.  Hopefully this section will bring some clarity on this subject!

Normally Malpractice policies allow practitioners to teach the therapies they are qualified in, but purely as an individual tutor (some may charge extra for this).  This can be for other schools as part of the faculty or running workshops, or CPD days. It is important to understand that the cover would exclude the management and control of a training establishment, clinic or college. This means that if a teacher intends to issue certificates to practitioner standard on their own and not on behalf of a school, they will generally speaking require their own training school policy (to cover errors and omissions etc.) as well as their existing practitioner cover.  Issuing certificates of attendance only, would be acceptable under the individual‘s  cover.  Teaching as part of a school's certification process would be covered under their policy.  

Remember when teaching your students, that you should not be seen to give any insurance advice, which is now against the Law unless you are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (not a good plan!!).  If you supply our material, please tell them to contact us direct if they have any Insurance related queries.  Best to use my email address mailto:db@balen.co.ukor joe@balen.co.uk   for these.

We have a supply of articles and other material which tackle general insurance issues, such as:

1. What policies does a practitioner need?
2. Glossary of the language and terms used
3. General article around Professionalism and how to reduce risk of complaints or claims
4. Enquiry Sheet enabling them to get more information
5. What to do if someone doesn’t show up, how to handle complaints
6. A range of other information regarding financial management, tax, the law.(available on a few of my own Powerpoint lecture slides)

It is up to you how much information you want to give the students/graduates, but make sure you don’t give them the impression that is your material, and try to avoid interpretations of it because of the FSA rules. Sorry but the Insurance Landscape changed in 2005, and Regulators hold sway!

Graduates

In general terms, we can simplify their needs as follows:

1. Protecting themselves from Financial Loss due to issues arising as a result of treatment and Advice
2. Protecting their Income due to Accident Injury, Illness or Death as they will be self employed
3. Protecting their belongings and investment in Buildings, Contents and Equipment

Low cost specialised cover exist for all of the above categories- see elsewhere in our website. Graduates have the comprehensive Balens DAS Package which gives them Tax advice over the phone to help them set up. Also included are Legal Advice, and various covers for Criminal and Tax Issues as well as the Professional Indemnity, Malpractice and Public Liability covers. The Leaflets we provide explain most of these in bullet-point format.

They also need to know about disclosure to us or the Insurers when anything changes that may alter what was originally stated on the proposal form (e.g., new therapy, a criminal conviction or potential incidents which may cause a claim).  Claims can be turned down due to non disclosure, or forgetting to renew on time.

They need to be diligent and businesslike in their dealings with Insurers.

If they qualify in any new therapies we need to see sight of a recognised qualification in writing, so rather than phoning us first, us they should just send the information, as this will save time.  This applies to any changes to the policy where advice over the phone is not required.

Graduates and Students will be able to renew online at our renewals website which is now working successfully.  It saves paper and time.  Balens have over 30 staff dedicated to supporting you and your students.  We are not perfect, but are always striving to improve our service to the very demanding needs and changing requirements of therapists, which can be very time consuming. 

Other sections of the website explain basic risks management and complaints handling, please look at these areas as well.  David Balen lectures regularly on these topics for various Health Organisations and Schools